Editing Physics (section)

====Nuclear and particle====
{{Main|Particle physics|Nuclear physics}}
[[File:CMS Higgs-event.jpg|thumb|A simulated event in the CMS detector of the [[Large Hadron Collider]], featuring a possible appearance of the [[Higgs boson]]]]

Particle physics is the study of the elementary constituents of [[matter]] and energy and the [[Fundamental interaction|interactions]] between them.<ref name="aps-dpf">{{cite web|title=Division of Particles & Fields |url=http://www.aps.org/units/dpf/index.cfm |publisher=American Physical Society |access-date=18 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829105655/http://www.aps.org/units/dpf/index.cfm |archive-date=29 August 2016 }}</ref> In addition, particle physicists design and develop the high-energy accelerators,<ref name="halpern2010">{{harvnb|Halpern|2010}}</ref> detectors,<ref name="grupen1999">{{harvnb|Grupen|1999}}</ref> and [[Computational particle physics|computer programs]]<ref name="walsh2012">{{harvnb|Walsh|2012}}</ref> necessary for this research. The field is also called "high-energy physics" because many elementary particles do not occur naturally but are created only during high-energy [[collision]]s of other particles.<ref name="iop-hepp">{{cite web|title=High Energy Particle Physics Group|url=http://www.iop.org/activity/groups/subject/hepp/index.html|publisher=Institute of Physics|access-date=18 October 2012|archive-date=29 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529024813/http://www.iop.org/activity/groups/subject/hepp/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Currently, the interactions of elementary particles and [[Field (physics)|fields]] are described by the [[Standard Model]].<ref name="oerter2006">{{harvnb|Oerter|2006}}</ref> The model accounts for the 12 known particles of matter ([[quark]]s and [[lepton]]s) that interact via the [[strong nuclear force|strong]], weak, and electromagnetic [[fundamental force]]s.<ref name="oerter2006" /> Dynamics are described in terms of matter particles exchanging [[gauge boson]]s ([[gluon]]s, [[W and Z bosons]], and [[photon]]s, respectively).<ref name="gribbin1998">{{harvnb|Gribbin|Gribbin|Gribbin|1998}}</ref> The Standard Model also predicts a particle known as the Higgs boson.<ref name="oerter2006" /> In July 2012 CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics, announced the detection of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson,<ref name="eonr-higgs">{{cite web |title=CERN experiments observe particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson |url=http://press-archived.web.cern.ch/press-archived/PressReleases/Releases2012/PR17.12E.html |publisher=[[CERN]] |access-date=18 October 2012 |date=4 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114084952/http://press-archived.web.cern.ch/press-archived/PressReleases/Releases2012/PR17.12E.html |archive-date=14 November 2012 }}</ref> an integral part of the [[Higgs mechanism]].

Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the constituents and interactions of [[atomic nuclei]]. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are [[nuclear power]] generation and [[nuclear weapons]] technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those in [[nuclear medicine]] and magnetic resonance imaging, [[ion implantation]] in [[materials engineering]], and [[radiocarbon dating]] in geology and [[archaeology]].